2014/15 Personal Support Services
Wage Enhancement Funding
Central East LHIN Board of Directors
Background
•
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s (MOHLTC’s) Personal
Support Services (PSS) Wage Enhancement Directive to the Local
Health Integration Networks (LHINs) came into effective April 1, 2014.
•
This directive aligns with the Personal Support Worker (PSW)
Workforce Stabilization Strategy to create a high-quality PSW workforce
that can meet the growing need for home and community-based health
services in Ontario.
Background
The Directive applies to the following LHIN-funded Health Service Providers (HSPs) and services:
• Community Care Access Centres (CCACs); for Personal Support Services (PSS) purchased from their contracted service providers;
• HSPs who provide PSS under contract with CCACs; and
• Other LHIN-funded home and community care agencies that provide PSS. Excludes the following HSPs and services:
• PSS provided under the MOHLTC’s policy “Self-Managed Attendant Services in Ontario – Direct Funding Pilot Project – Policy Guidelines”;
• Long-Term Care Homes (LTCHs); • Hospitals; and
The directive states:
• HSPs subject to this Directive are required to:
– Increase the hourly wage for individuals providing LHIN-funded PSS by $1.50
per hour retroactive to April 1, 2014 (Individuals providing PSS funded by the
LHIN will receive the $1.50 per hour wage increase even if their pay is above
the new $14.00 minimum wage; and
– Establish a new minimum base wage of $14.00 per hour for these individuals
retroactive to April 1, 2014.
• Community Care Access Centre’s (CCACs) are required to amend their
contracts with service providers, stipulating that these HSPs meet the terms
stated above; and
• This wage increase and the new minimum applies over and above any current
or contracted wage increases.
Funding Allocation
Sector PSS Hours Funding Allocation ($1.50/hour) Additional 16% for Employer Contributions (Benefits) Total Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) 2,816,774 $4,225,161 $676,026 $4,901,187 Community Support Services (CSS) 1,003,301 $1,501,951 $240,792 $1,745,743 Total $6,646,931
Timelines
July 14th, 2014 : Announcement of PSS Wage Increase through the Ontario
Budget Speech.
July 30th, 2014: Administrative Letter for PSS Wage Increase Funding issued
by MOHLTC.
July 31st, 2014: Central East LHIN issued funding letters to all qualifying HSPs.
August 6st, 2014: Central East LHIN received sign-backs from HSPs accepting
the funding.
September 1st, 2014: Wage increase is to be provided to all LHIN–funded agencies
with applicable PSS hours.
September 2014: All retroactive wage increases for hours worked between April 1, 2014 and August 31, 2014 must be paid to employees by providers.
Timelines (Continued)
October 15th, 2014: Central East CCAC (CECCAC) contracted HSPs must submit
certificate of compliance to the PSS Wage Enhancement Directive to the CECCAC by this date.
October 31th, 2014: CECCAC must confirm receipt of its contracted HSPs
certificate of compliance. Other HSPs subject to this directive must submit their certificate of compliance to the Central East LHIN by this date.
Outstanding Issues and Mitigations
•
The MOHLTC used 2013/14 year-end reporting to calculate LHINs PSS
Wage Enhancement funding allocations. This has resulted in several issues
that have a financial impact on the Central East LHIN:
– Data Quality/Reporting;
– Service Changes/Enhancement in 2014/15; and
– Inclusion of Ministry Funded PSS Hours.
•
A brief description of the issue, affected HSP(s) and Mitigation strategies
are provided in the following slides.
•
At this time the issues create a pressure of approximately $500K (base), of
which the CCAC is assisting the LHIN by cash managing $400K until the Q3
provincial reconciliation is completed.
Data Quality Issue (Insufficient MOHLTC Funding):
Outstanding Issues and Mitigations
Affected HSP(s)
Description of Issue Mitigation Strategy
Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada (VONCO)
Due to a reporting error made by an HSP, the Central East LHIN did not receive the correct
allocation. The resulting shortfall due to this error is 29,292 PSS hours and $50,968 in PSS Wage Enhancement funding.
The LHIN Liaison Branch (LLB) has been
informed of this issue.
The Central East LHIN will fund this shortfall
if the MOHLTC provides funding for this data error through the provincial Q3 reallocation process. Otherwise, it will have to be internally managed by VONCO.
2014/15 Service Changes/Enhancements (Volumes Shortfall)
Outstanding Issues and Mitigations
Affected HSP(s)
Description of Issue Mitigation Strategy
CECCAC
All LHINs collectively decided to fund HSPs based on their 2014/15 service commitments.
The shortfall to the Central East LHIN from this is $398,467 which has been managed by reducing the CECCAC’s 2014/15 PSS Wage Enhancement allocation.
The CECCAC has agreed to temporarily cash manage the shortfall through a reduction to their 2014/15 PSS Wage allocation until the Q3 reconciliation process is completed.
LLB has been informed of this issue.
This pressure has been added to the risk register and highlighted in the reallocation process.
VONCO VONCO’s 2014/15 PSS Wage
Enhancement allocation did not include 2014/15 expansion of services of 37,935 additional hours. The resulting shortfall is $66,007.
LLB has been informed of this issue.
This pressure has been managed using 2012/13 Community Investments residual base funding.
Inclusion of Ministry Funded Personal Support Services Hours
Outstanding Issues and Mitigations
Affected HSP(s)
Description of Issue Mitigation Strategy
Community Support Sector (CSS) HSPs
MOHLTC’s allocation to the Central East LHIN included 16,481 PSS hours that are funded by the MOHLTC. MOHLTC has the right to recover the MOHLTC PSS hours which will increase the Central East LHIN shortfall by $28, 677.
LLB has been informed of this issue.
This pressure has been added to the risk
register and highlighted in the reallocation process. This pressure is to be managed using Central East LHIN residual base funding.